There are many applications in which it is necessary to dispense granular material under controlled conditions. Typically such dispensing is widely used in the food, plastic, chemical and ceramic industries where granular products as diverse as nuts or aluminum flakes may need to be dispensed with high precision and consistency. A number of dispensers are commercially available but one that offers improved control is that available from Arbo Engineering Inc. of North York, Ontario that utilizes a resonant vibratory system. In such a system, a tray is oscillated to convey the granulated material from a hopper and the frequency of oscillation is maintained at the resonant frequency of the tray and the material that it is conveying. Flow rate of the material along the conveyor may be adjusted by varying the amplitude of oscillation. Such dispensers have achieved a high acceptance rate in the industry and offer a high turn down ratio, that is the range of rates that may be dispensed from the same conveyor.
One application that utilizes granulated material is a reactor vessel commonly used in the chemical industry. Such a vessel would typically have a number of tubes containing a reactant or catalyst that must be replaced periodically. At present such replacement is performed manually which is time consuming, arduous and potentially dangerous work. As well it is necessary to ensure that the material provided in each tube of the reactor vessel is uniform and consistent for satisfactory operation of the vessel. Manual replenishment of the material in the tubes requires each tube to be treated individually to ensure consistency between tubes and adds to the cost of such replenishment.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that obviates or mitigates the above disadvantages.